A Remarkable Journey
Inspiration Plus! – Books
I’m always on the lookout for books that will inspire me and/or stretch my thinking/skills.
My post today is about two books I have recently acquired, one being a gift and both relating to Sketching/Drawing.
The first is “Everyday Sketching & Drawing” – 5 Steps To A Unique and Personal Sketchbook Habit by Steven B. Reddy.
As someone who is trying to ‘loosen up’ in terms sketching/drawing lines, this book has been a revelation! Not only that, there are suggestions for overcoming blocks, time issues, tips and techniques and much, much more.
The second book is, “Rendering In Pen and Ink” by Arthur L.Guptill – 60th Anniversary edition – The Classic Book On Pen and Ink Techniques For Artists, Illustrators, Architects, and Designers.
The amount of helpful content in this book just blows me away! This book is aimed more at Dip pens, Quills and the like, however, the techniques could as easily be applied to the modern day pens.
I see many hours of enjoyment coming my way as I absorb their knowledge and do the exercises in each book.
If you are interested in improving your skills in these areas, I would highly recommend both books.
Written by David Johnson
16 May 2021
Illuminating
Investing In Self
Mental Citadel
Precious Moment
What Treasure Lies…
We Give Them A Salute
Journey Of A Book
A Trip To The Country – Part 3 – Millthorpe
We have ventured up to Millthorpe a number of times since 1995 as it is the home of one of our great friend’s ‘the Dixons’, in fact Susan and Diane have been great friends since their school days.
This time, we were up there for the Wedding of their eldest son. I’m going to leave the wedding to another post, in fact, I will wait till the official Wedding photos arrive.
Millthorpe is a historical village classified by the National Trust and was originally called, ‘Spring Grove.’ More details about the name change and further detail about the town can be found in the link below.
Even though we have been going up there for a many years it is really only in the last two or three visits that I have actually been able to walk around the Town. Mostly, we have been up there for Family celebrations of one type or another.
A rather strange thing happened this time…My DSLR did not come out of the bag. Instead, armed with a small sketchbook, three pigment liners and just my phone camera, I took the chance to do some rough sketches and took many reference photos.
Millthorpe’s buildings are older ones and have a lot of character and I seem to love sketching and painting architecture. I’ve come back with quite a few ideas for sketches/paintings and the camera phone is good enough for reference photos for the moment.
As with any town there are a few Churches as well. I can see myself tackling these types of buildings as well.
I didn’t get a chance to go into the Museum this time around but was delighted to see some Art forms and industrial machinery on the outside.
The weather this time was beautiful and sunny on the Friday and Monday, however, Saturday and Sunday were very cold with single digit temperatures in Celsius.
Usually, we stay with the Dixons, however this time they had a full house so we stayed at a local Air BnB, ‘Millthorpe on Morley.’ It was the first time staying via Air BnB and it was extremely comfortable and very friendly.
The view from the front verandah below (where I was able to sit and journal) on the Saturday morning was very beautiful.
As always, I look forward to our next visit to Millthorpe!
Written by David Johnson
18 April 2021
For more information about Millthorpe, visit:
